


Run with Me, To Feel the Sun

by AmagiStar



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Nothing suspicious here just a fun budding hero adventure, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:21:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24738340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmagiStar/pseuds/AmagiStar
Summary: The lives of the girls of Nijigasaki High School Idol Club are thrust into disarray one day when they start developing supernatural abilities. Some adapt and embrace these new abilities, some do not. When a secret plot revolving around their new Student Council President arises, Ayumu Uehara becomes the centerpiece of it all.As Setsuna Yuki would say: "This is just like those Light Novels I read!"
Relationships: Miyashita Ai/Uehara Ayumu, Ousaka Shizuku/Yuki Setsuna
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	1. The End of the World

**Somewhere...**

An alarm could be heard. The grating noise bounced off the hot steel walls as red lights flashed inside the control room, providing the only source of lighting. The air around Ayumu felt dry and still. She couldn’t tell whether it was because of the continuously rising heat or the stress she felt at that moment. The duo had done it, the facility was out of commission, all the targets went down, what seemed impossible had come to pass. Now all they had to do was wait.  
  


“...We’ll be okay, right?” She asked her friend, wracked with so many questions, so many doubts. It felt like she hadn’t spoken a single word throughout the entire operation, and her voice came out coarse, and chillingly quiet, a murmur. Unfortunately the blonde kneeling beside her did not answer

“Please... a-at least say something...” But not this time, Ai didn’t even face the source of the voice. Her messy bangs seemed to obscure her eyes, even with the vanishingly low visibility they had inside the metallic room. 

What could she even say? Did Ayumu really want an answer? She’d run out of those a while ago, but something told her she might have never had them in the first place. Ai took a shaky breath, as if just remembering to breathe, and said the only thing she could possibly think of when faced with such a predicament: 

“We’ve come this far, no? There’s no cause for alarm!”  
  


With sinister comedic timing, the facility’s alarm rang all too loudly yet again. She sent Ayumu one of her trademark winks, even if she wasn’t entirely sure the other girl could see it in the darkness. 

Ayumu giggled quietly. She had no idea whether Ai had planned that by paying attention to the timing of the noise or if she’d simply gotten lucky and seized the opportunity (Yet another one of Ai’s many incomprehensible, but astounding qualities). Of course, of course they had come far… in the end it might be worth it.

In spite of that, she couldn’t help but feel distraught by the little defeatist voice inside her mind.  
  


“Ayumu... I...”

A switch flipped inside the redhead. Her eyes focused on the girl. Somewhere in her heart there were words she wanted to hear and things she wanted to say back. 

“W-What is it?” She answered in return. Ai just looked at her for a few moments before sighing, smiling warmly and speaking with the last of the strength she could muster.   
  


“Whatever happens, don’t stop sm- _Ai_ -ling, I want you to be happy after all that’s happened. Show us your smile when you get back!” Not her best material, but also not a bad note to end on.

Ayumu just stared, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. 

“Yeah… I will! Having you will make things easier for the both of us.”  
  


Ai nodded.

Her body dropped on its side against the ground with a thud.

“... Ai...?”  
  


Ayumu did a double take, finally noticing the blood that had pooled around her friend for the last few minutes.

“No... NO....!!” How could she be so careless? How long had Ai been— No, that didn’t matter, where was the wound?

It didn’t take long for her to notice the bullet hole in the second year’s stomach, still bleeding profusely.  
  


“Ayumu… don’t cry…” A barely audible whisper. “Smile…remember? I don’t have any more jokes, s-sorry...” She laughed dryly before coughing harshly, Ayumu thought she could see more of the scarlet substance leave Ai’s mouth.

“Shut up! You’ll be okay Ai, you’re not going away…!!” Tears were running down her cheeks in full force, but alas her desperate cries fell on deaf ears.  
  


Ai Miyashita closed her eyes with a smile at world’s end. Karin did always tell her she’d never seen someone like her, so optimistic yet equipped with a stubbornness rivaled only by Setsuna Yuki herself. Ai had always suspected this was part of the reason the third year had warmed up to the group’s jokester.

Ayumu’s desperate pleas continued, her cries of anguish intensifying “Ai! Please wake up! We’re so close… d-don’t give up now!” She couldn’t lose her as well, she didn’t want it to end like this, she knew she could save her if she was fast enough, she had the power to do so. That said, she also knew what would happen if she did it now.  
  


The ringing noise from the alarm grew louder. Ayumu was frozen, she’d said it herself: They were close, too close. She had no idea what effects it could cause, or if it would destroy everything she and Ai had fought for. What Nijigasaki had fought for.

…But she had also told Ai to never give up. She wasn’t about to give up on the only certainty she had left. Ayumu placed her hands on either side of Ai’s head and closed her own eyes as a warm light emanated from her body. Calm, collected, to be the crutch in moments where Ayumu could not. The redhead prayed silently that she was not too late.

Fate had other plans, however, and before she could tell what was happening Ayumu felt a jolt course through her. It was as if she’d just been hit with a taser. Her body shook as she yelped in pain.

The alarm went off one last time before her world went white.

* * *

Ayumu could hear more noise, voices in the darkness. Her head felt hazy, everything felt scrambled, and her stomach hurt.  
  


“Should we wake her? Could that be dangerous?” A certain swiss asked anxiously.

“Nah, let her sleep... in fact, I might join her soon~” 

“Kanata-chan, you can’t sleep here!!” Emma retorted.

“Oh? Are you offering me your lap then Emma-chan~?” Many other voices rang out soon after. This felt familiar.  
  


“I mean, I get being exhausted, but this is the middle of the hallway! It’s almost like she fainted... maybe she’s sick!” Ayumu recognized that as Ai. Her voice was clearly distinguishable among the jumbled distress, and for some reason her head hurt even more. She couldn’t even open her own eyes, her body wasn’t responding, she was just so tired… 

“Rina-chan board: 「Concerned」”  
  


Shizuku cut into the chatter

“Everyone calm down! If she passed out, then we need to take her to the infirmary and—”

“Infirmary?! Is it that serious?!” Setsuna interrupted.

“Oh, for the love of… just do something!” Karin was getting impatient and clearly more worried by the second.  
  


Ayumu felt a hand on her forehead. The sudden contact made her eyes shoot open, like it snapped her out of a long trance. As her sight cleared, the first thing she was met with was a pair of bright silver eyes way too close to her own. 

Unfortunately for Ayumu’s eardrums, the person possessing said eyes came packaged with too loud a voice for the distance that existed between them.

“SHE’S AWAKE!”  
  


Ayumu yelped. Oh, she was awake now alright, with ringing in her ears to boot.

Shizuku spoke up soon after. 

“Setsuna-san, please give her some breathing room… and no shouting! We’ll get in trouble...”  
  


“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Setsuna moved away from Ayumu’s face, kneeling beside her, but not breaking eye contact.

Another voice joined the fray, right above her: “See? Kasumin’s natural charm woke her up with just a touch~!”   
  


“Or your hands are just unbearably cold, Kasumi-san.” Shizuku answered dryly. 

Kasumi didn’t take kindly to that and protested with a huff. “Hey, you should be more thankful that because of me we didn’t have to go to the infirmary!”   
  


“Are you okay Ayumu-chan?”  
  
She kept looking around, letting out a groan, and saw Karin’s figure approaching her. As the now-conscious girl finally sat up, the third year stared at her with unflinching eyes, as if mentally analyzing her. Someone who knew Karin Asaka well would quickly notice that her expression was still swept with worry, even if her mannerisms and attempts to emotionally mask it would indicate otherwise.  
  


“I think so... what happened, where am I?” 

Karin was in left in awe at the response. She thought to say something but decided not to, and instead pursued the subject further. “You don’t remember? You went out of the practice room to get something to drink, but you never came back...”   
  


“Then we got worried and went to look for you, and when Karin-san found you, it was here, you were out cold.” Setsuna hurriedly added. 

“Really...?” She didn’t remember any of that... in fact she didn’t remember anything about the past few hours. “Maybe I’m coming down with something.” She didn’t _feel_ sick though.  
  


“You’re not pushing yourself too hard, are you? Do you need water? Rina-chan board: ‘Uuuu….’” Rina changed her board to a >.< expression.

“No, I’m fine, Rina-chan...” Ayumu didn’t notice it herself, but her eyes had drifted over to look at Ai. The blonde had her arms crossed and was frowning anxiously, much like the rest of the club, but…  
  


“Here. I got you.” Her thoughts were interrupted when Karin extended a hand to help Ayumu stand up.

“Oh…Thanks, should we head back to practice then?” She began to walk toward the direction of the clubroom, or at least that’s what she’d tried to do. After just three steps her legs gave in. Luckily, Ai had been quick enough to catch her mid-fall.

“Whoa there! Don’t go rushing anywhere now. You fainted, remember? Even if you somehow feel fine, that kind of thing doesn’t happen normally.”   
  


Setsuna chimed in: “Ai-san is right, I think that it’d be best if you went home early, we have an event coming up soon. You can’t be forcing yourself now.” 

Ayumu quietly sighed. She really disliked burdening the others with worry, Yu being gone was more than enough pressure, but they were right.  
  


“M-Mhm.. I guess you’re right. I’ll get home and rest, you guys just keep it up okay?” Everyone nodded in agreement, she always felt that she wasn’t nearly as good at pep talks as Yu was. She could still remember the lengthy (and surprisingly emotional) chat their president had with the rest of the club before she left for her music internship trip. She really didn’t want to leave considering their live was so soon, fighting against the decision from her teachers every step of the way, but to no avail. Thankfully the club managed to convince her to participate in the school activity, due in part to Rina, who promised to set up a livestream for the show so that Yu would be able to support them even from a distance. 

She picked up her things, said her goodbyes, and took her leave. Setsuna accompanied her to the infirmary just in case something similar happened.

Ai couldn’t help but notice the look Ayumu had given her a few moments ago, but didn’t think much of it. Meanwhile, Karin and Shizuku exchanged a look of their own.

* * *

Ayumu kept reminiscing on the walk back home, the rest of her day had gone by in a blur, the permission slip from the infirmary still in her hand, she’d really been zoning out recently. Why did she faint anyhow? She didn’t even feel that dizzy anymore, but it’s not like she could head back to campus without making it look like she was straining herself. She didn’t want to worry the rest; she was their de-facto president now! It was imperative that she put her all in being there to support them, not the other way around.

Her thoughts were interrupted (This was happening a lot today) when she bumped into something, no, someone. She felt a sudden wave of embarrassment wash over her. This is what she gets for being such a dumb, clumsy little— Oh?   
  


“S-Shioriko-chan?” 

The newest student council president was staring directly at her, expression unreadable, as was usually the case. More surprising to Ayumu was the fact that the girl was out here in the first place. 

“What are you doing here...? School’s not out until a few more hours... I-I mean, I’m sorry for hitting you!” The redhead gave a meek bow.   
  


“I should be asking you the same thing Uehara-san, walking home from a long day, early and all.” 

To this, Ayumu fidgeted for a few moments. 

“I just felt a bit sick back at the club... the others told me I should go home and rest, so...” It hadn’t been a complete lie.  
  


“You know that’s not what I mean.” Shioriko snapped at her. 

Ayumu just gave her a short ‘huh?’. She was caught completely off guard. Wow, Shioriko really was something else when it came to lying—  
  


“How are you here, Ayumu Uehara?” 

Her tone stayed the same, but Ayumu felt... something different in her voice. Something off. 

There was an awkward silence.

“W-What do you mean?”  
  


The black-haired girl growled. “So you won’t be straight with me. Alright then, we’ll do this the hard way.” 

Before Ayumu could even begin to process what those words meant, she felt a pit form in her stomach, after which her legs gave in, knees hitting the ground with a loud thud. The redhead felt like someone had pushed her down from behind, she wanted to say something, react, think. All sound had gone, and she got nauseous as the world around her fell into darkness. She’d never felt so horrible in her entire life. A skull-crushing headache combined with a weight and pain that would not stop, it wouldn’t stop, she felt heavier, and heavier, she whined and groaned in agony, she tried to ask Shioriko for help but oxygen would not reach her.  
  


And then it stopped. Ayumu gasped for air as she held her stomach, knees stinging due to the previous impact against the concrete of the sidewalk. Her eyes darted around for any explanation as to what had happened, but they only managed to lock onto Shioriko, who was standing over her, sporting a glare that could cut through solid rock.

Ayumu instinctively tried to stand up, but all the different sensations proved too much for her.

“You’re still able to move? Perhaps I underestimated your transfer. I suggest you start talking, lest I move on to someone else from your group. Someone more… vulnerable.”  
  


“What… What are you talking about…? Transfer…?” She was terrified, her body too shocked to move, she barely understood the situation she was in, much less what Shioriko wanted from her.

“Of, course, you don’t care. Your selfish actions up until now have all indicated as much, or perhaps you simply don’t remember. Either way, it’s far too late for it to matter. You tell me what you did in the facility so I can get rid of you and everyone in your little club. Otherwise you die, and I just move on to the next person.” Ayumu squirmed under the girl’s figure. She had to do something, she didn’t know why Shioriko was acting like this, but she didn’t want anyone else to be hurt...  
  


She sucked up the sickening nausea she felt and managed to stand up. Shioriko seemed unfazed by this. 

“Up for more then? It looks like you won’t even fight back.” 

Ayumu was shocked at the prospect of fighting. She’d never done so in her life, and in all honesty couldn’t bring herself to. But if what had happened for those few seconds really Shioriko’s doing, this truly could be a life or death situation. 

She balled her fists and raised her arms in front of her face, she was trembling all over. 

“You’re joking, right? You can’t possibly be this naive” the black-haired girl thundered, her eyes gleaming against the orange sky of the afternoon. 

Ayumu unwittingly took a step back, her fight or flight response seemed to be having just as much of an intense encounter.   
  


“SHOW ME WHAT YOU REALLY HAVE, UEHARA!” Sudden rage. Shioriko could feel bile rise to her throat.

Flight won out for Ayumu at that moment. She turned around and broke into a desperate run, somewhere, anywhere, she needed to get out of there, why was the street so empty…?! 

After a few steps, her feet didn’t make contact with the ground, she tripped and let out a shriek, but was even more shocked when she didn’t immediately collide with the ground, in fact she wasn’t even ON the ground. Like her entire body’s motion had frozen in the air, she was levitating.

“W-What? What’s—AH!” No time to think, she lost her breath when her body was pulled backwards suddenly by an invisible force, with incredible speed she flew past the houses and trees she’d just ran by to escape her assailant.   
  


Shioriko, with her arm raised and palm open, pulled on Ayumu’s floating body. Dragging her prey right back in front of her where she wanted it. Gravity was a cruel mistress, and Shioriko had the power to bend her to her own will. 

Once Ayumu was back where she began, Shioriko stopped her momentum quite suddenly, resulting in a pained cry emanating from the second year. Shioriko kept her in the air, however. 

A twisted part deep within her mind was enjoying this little game, and the black-haired girl allowed herself a grin. “You can’t leave just yet, I want to see you perish myself.”   
  


Ayumu didn’t, or rather couldn’t understand, her eyes widened in horror, tears in her eyes. “Please…! I’ll apologize for whatever I did, please stop this…!!” 

Shioriko didn’t respond, she flicked her hand upward. Ayumu, eyes still open, was able to witness how the ground beneath her suddenly got smaller and smaller as she was sent what looked to her like a hundred feet in the air. She felt like she could pass out at any moment.   
  


Shioriko looked up, the setting sun creating a perfect backdrop for the spectacle before her. She knew that it had been a risky maneuver, as someone with a keen eye might have been able to see Ayumu rising up to the sky, but it was the fastest means she had of finishing her off. 

“This is my retribution. Goodbye.” She whispered to no one in particular as she closed her hand into a fist. 

Ayumu felt her body have its weight returned, as if an invisible hand had just let her go after compressing her for the longest time, much like how a carnival drop tower allowed its guests to experience the thrill of falling. There were no seatbelts for this ride. Ayumu fell to the city below, the rushing wind being the only thing masking the sound of her screams.   
  


Two men in dark military attire walked out into the sidewalk from a nearby alleyway. If Shioriko’s quick mental math was correct, it would only be a few more seconds before the falling girl hit the pavement. 

“Recover the remains. I want this place clean.” The student council president ordered, as she walked away. 

“Understood.” One of the men answered, and turned to his partner to get into position. But much to his surprise, the other soldier did not move, and instead quickly rotated on his hip to give the confused trooper a solid punch in the nose, which resulted in a satisfying crack.

“GAH!” 

Shioriko stopped in her tracks at the commotion, not wanting to turn around to avoid seeing Ayumu’s body smash into the ground anytime soon. “What is going on back there?!”

…At the lack of a response, and the _severe_ lack of the sound of a body exploding onto concrete, she turned around to look finally.   
  


A person she immediately recognized as Shizuku Osaka from her same year stood over one of her trooper’s bodies. 

“Ow, ow, ow…” Shizuku was now shaking off her right hand, which was currently pulsating with pain due to the frankly nasty hook she’d just delivered. Even after so much practice, she was still not used to the feeling.   
  


“No…! It’s too soon!” Shioriko immediately looked up, Ayumu was no longer above them. Not even in her wildest dreams did she conceive such a situation. “You…!” 

Shizuku just smiled proudly, they got here just in time it seems. 

The tone of her voice was not so kind, though. She felt anger bubbling up inside her, as her voice came out much lower in pitch, years of acting prepared her for such a moment. “Mifune-san… what you just did was completely unforgivable… and to _her_ no less.” Her voice got more bitter with every syllable. 

“Now I’ll bring you down myself.” 

Shioriko blinked, and the girl was gone. 

The raven-haired girl’s breath hitched, but not before she felt a hit to the gut, which made the air escape her altogether. Shioriko stumbled back, and the hit was followed with another, with a kick to her leg, which caused her to whimper in pain. If Shizuku’s eyes had been visible past her invisibility, the pure satisfaction emanating from them would have been clear.   
  


Shioriko wasn’t about to go down so easily, though. She extended both of her hands outward and opened her palms. A sudden shockwave boomed through the air, gravitic force extending out in all directions, and Shizuku was sent flying some feet away, hitting the ground with an unpleasant thud. 

“A-Agh..!” She faded back into view after an ached groan, the force of the impact breaking her invisibility.   
  


“Underhanded tricks as always… but arrogant!” 

She waved her right hand upward again, and wasting no time, she used her power to make Shizuku levitate.  
  


“W-Whoa…!” Shizuku exclaimed, her body losing all sense of balance as she was raised. “You won’t get away with this…!”  
  


“You can tell your friends that when I send you back in pieces.” 

She moved her left hand and pointed a finger at the ground, the asphalt of the street beside them began to crack and break. And shizuku stared in awe as a chunk of the earth, the size of a car, was pulled from the ground and floated beside Shioriko, who had the full intent of smashing it against the brunette. 

Thankfully for Shizuku, this was all she needed. A bright light surrounded her instantly. When it faded, an exact replica of Shioriko Mifune had replaced the actress, school clothing and all. 

Shioriko’s eyes widened, in her rage she had been careless. She hurriedly launched the floating boulder over to Shizuku, knowing what was about to happen.   
  


“Let me present to you another trick!” Shizuku exclaimed in a voice Shioriko found all too familiar. 

The replica, still in the air, extended her arm forwards and opened her palm. And much like how she had done to Ayumu just moments before, the original Shioriko felt herself be pushed down against the ground by the force of a cruel mistress. 

This was enough for her concentration to be broken, and for Shizuku to be let go. The latter still had to worry about the massive boulder coming at her at high speed, though. Shioriko was no longer manipulating it, but momentum definitely still was.   
  


“Crap…!” Shizuku had never done this sort of replication for so long, but it was either this or being crushed to certain doom. In a split second, she held her breath, and imitated the lifting motion with her arms and hands that Shioriko had used to raise her off the ground just before. The boulder stopped in its tracks mid-air, and began to float upwards up into the sky, unshackled from gravity. 

Shizuku sighed in relief. “That’s that… you’re done, Mifune-sa— AHH—!” She felt a burning jolt course through her veins, her body unable to take the pressure of holding this form and utilizing Shioriko’s power this excessively. She de-transformed and turned back into her normal self almost immediately, and dropped to her knees. “N-Ngh…!”   
  


Shioriko was now free from the effect, she could take this opportunity to attack, maybe even finish off the girl, but Ayumu hadn’t gotten down from her fall on her own, which meant more assailants could be near, and in her opinion, this skirmish had gone on long enough. “You won’t save them… no one can…” 

Feet above, the oversized rock was also freed and gravity took its toll. It practically exploded against the ground with a booming crash. Shizuku, unable to get away from the event in time, opted to cover her head in the fetal position, feeling various smaller debris hit and cut her arms and legs.   
  


Once the dust had settled, Shizuku stood up with a cough. She was dusty and bleeding in some places, but otherwise alive. But to her frustration, Shioriko was nowhere to be seen.

She just sighed, exhausted. “Damn it… I was so close…” She was left alone in the sidewalk with her uniform dirtied, a large crater to her left, rocky debris all around, and an unconscious man behind her. 

Night had begun to fall on the city. 

“This is going to be a mess...” 

* * *

Ayumu slowly opened her eyes and looked around, the last thing she remembered was being taken by the darkness of her failing mind as she fell from the sky. Was she dead? Possibly, but wherever this dark alley was didn’t look like the afterlife she envisioned, and the girl gently holding her in firm arms was definitely not dead. 

“Karin...chan…”   
  


“It’s okay… I got you.” 

The senior smiled warmly, and Ayumu thought she could see a tinge of redness in her eyes.   
  


The redheaded idol pressed her face against Karin’s shoulder, there were many things she wanted to ask but her mind was suddenly filled with the horrible memories from just moments ago, and a rush of emotions hit her. She simply broke down into sobs, and cried. 

* * *

END OF CHAPTER 1


	2. Shooting Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very late update I know! But alas I’m pretty busy with IRL things, but I’m not giving in! Please enjoy this new chapter :D

**In the shadows...**

Karin took a deep breath. Shizuku had just contacted her with a text message regarding the current situation. While the first year’s failure to capture Shioriko was certainly disappointing, Karin couldn’t really blame her. She figured one-on-one combat wouldn’t be Shizuku’s specialty, much less against the student council president’s power. In any other situation it would have been a much better option for Karin herself to take care of engaging the enemy, but Ayumu’s safety came first.

At the thought of Ayumu, Karin turned around to check on the redhead, who was now sitting down against the concrete wall. The alleyway’s only source of light was the moonlight pouring from overhead, but even in the darkness of the night, Karin could clearly see Ayumu’s distraught expression.

“Ayumu-chan, I’m sorry to do this to you so suddenly, but we need to get going.”

The girl in question didn’t respond.

“Shizuku-chan told me to regroup back at the school grounds. We need to—”

“Regroup? I still don’t even know what happened I… I was attacked by Shioriko-chan… I flew and almost died! You haven’t answered any of the questions I’ve asked you since I woke up, much less talked to me! I’m not moving from this spot! I-I need you to tell me what’s going on right now…” Ayumu tried to be assertive during that last part, but fear was clearly getting the better of her. “Wait, did you say Shizuku-chan?!”

“Okay, calm down. Yes, Shizuku-chan just spoke to me and yes, she also knows what happened. I promise we’ll tell you everything you want to know but right now it’s not safe out here. Someone is looking for you. Besides, it’s a bad idea to stick around in alleyways late at night anyway.” Karin had to defuse the situation as fast as possible. Obviously Ayumu wasn’t in the right state of mind to think rationally, having experienced what she just did.

“…How did you get me down?” Ayumu asked suddenly.

Karin supposed this was inevitable, but she really didn’t have the time to go in detail “The same way I’m going to get us back to school grounds.” She offered a hand to Ayumu “Just hold on to me tightly.” Ayumu took a second to process what Karin had just said, giving the third year a confused look before taking the extended hand. Karin helped her up and pulled her close, holding her firmly. 

“You don’t have to keep your eyes open if you don’t want to.” The bluenette said.

“Huh?” But it was far too late to question, for there was a flash of light and Ayumu was momentarily blinded. When her vision cleared, she could see that there was now a sort of long bright rope protruding from Karin’s wrist, lighting up the alleyway with the strength of a car’s headlights and emitting a warm aura. Karin moved her hand upward and the bright rope shot out, wrapping around a steel pipe above them.

“Here’s hoping no one sees us...” Karin walked backwards, and after a few seconds, the rope pulled both girls forward with incredible strength, sending them flying out of the alleyway and into the air, Ayumu gripped Karin tightly with a shriek as she saw the ground below them get smaller and smaller before they made it over an entire building.

Karin didn’t say a word, focused entirely on not dropping Ayumu as she retracted the white rope, of course, they were still moving forwards incredibly quickly, but they were losing altitude, so Karin shot the white rope again to lasso the next object, a nearby street lamp, and much like before both girls were shot into the sky as they flew over the streets of Odaiba. If Karin had been right about anything, it was the fact that Ayumu would want to close her eyes, to prevent motion sickness and out of fear… but mostly out of fear if her terrified yelps were any indication.

“H-How…?! Since when?!” Ayumu managed to blurt out among the sound of rushing air. 

“I don’t recommend talking… you might get bugs in your mouth and all.” (To this, Ayumu shut her mouth almost instantly.) “And if I’m being honest, I’d like to concentrate, you’re… a lot heavier than Shizuku-chan is!” Karin added teasingly as she pulled off another swing.

“EHHHH?!”

* * *

Setsuna sighed as she rested her head on top of her desk. The girl had spent the whole evening going through her homework as well as the paperwork for the idol club, a task made even more difficult by Yuu’s absence during the past few days, since now she had to take care of preparing practice routines and costuming, among other things. Not that she was bothered by this, mind you, she knew better than anyone what sorts of rewards her undertaking would bring, but the lesser amount of free time (or ‘Anime and Manga time’ as it was actually called) was becoming apparent, and taking a bit of a toll on the girl. 

“Haaah… Done… Now I just need to call Ayumu-san, and message the schedule to everyone…” She trailed off. “Where did the time go?” The girl let out a quiet whine as she lazily stared at her clock, which read 9:23 PM. She’d been so entombed in work that she hadn’t even had the time to change out of her idol outfit. Her schedule really was becoming a mess.

Setsuna began to mutter to herself.

“Maybe I should call it a day? Wait, no, that’s not what Yuu-san would do, she’d keep working hard—!”

A little voice in the back of her head stopped her:

”...But, I always tell her to not overwork herself, while I’m doing the exact same thing…”

She, of course, rebutted.

“Hmm, but in the end it does end up working out, no?”

This silly back and forth had become a common occurrence in her brain, her usual methods of multitasking had ended up devolving into daily internal debates instead. And by the time Setsuna realized that she’d been pointlessly arguing with herself for the past ten minutes, the girl would’ve already stalled any potential progress even more than before.

At this point it was hard for her to differentiate her antics from pure procrastination. 

“Come on, Nana…! You have to do your best to support the others!” She lightly slapped both her cheeks to psych herself up, but it was when she raised her voice at that moment that she _felt it_. _Heat._

Her train of thought stopped as suddenly as it had blasted off, when did her room get so hot?

She pushed the thought aside with a giggle. “I’m really getting worked up over this…” and she allowed herself a smile. The thought of her passion bringing her this far for the sake of her friends was a comforting one, it just inspired her even more, in a sort of odd snowball effect. But the heat didn’t go away, in fact, it seemed to get stronger. It was the feeling she had after coming back from a morning run. But for one, she was indoors. And secondly, it’d been a chilly autumn night just a moment ago. 

“What?” 

Setsuna’s calm expression twisted into a frown when the smell of smoke reached her. And suddenly the gears in her head started turning. “A...A fire!?” Had she really been that distracted?!

She went for the room’s door almost instantaneously, her parents being foremost on her panicked mind, she reached for the door handle…

Smoke rose from her fingers, and her hand burst into flame, rather, the gloves from her costume did.

“A-AH!” She let out a shriek, her mind going into overdrive as she quickly took the accessory off, her mind not processing the searing pain that was probably coursing through her arm at that moment. 

While the source of the sudden ignition and the effects on her body were all valid points of concern at the moment, it didn’t take long for Setsuna to see that the flames hadn’t left, her hand was still on fire, and it was spreading down her arm fast. Her body felt extremely hot, _She_ was burning, and she could only watch in horror as it spread to her clothes and hair. She produced a scream of pure terror as she stumbled backwards into her open balcony, she swore she heard the sounds of her parents shouting from downstairs, but that didn’t matter, as she shook violently to somehow stop the spread of the flames around her, but it only seemed to make the situation worse. “NO, STOP—!!” 

Her back hit the railing, and she went over. 

Her body was searing, the flames blinded her, and the sound of a loud explosion filled her ears. 

* * *

A rush of cold air hit Shizuku once more as she stood on the rooftop of Nijigasaki High School. She’d been waiting around 15 minutes already ever since she texted Karin regarding Ayumu, but both of the girls had failed to show up in a timely fashion and Karin wasn’t answering, which only made the first year worry even more. And her exposed legs weren’t exactly grateful either, the chilly wind had not been kind tonight. 

Right as she was pondering on whether she should go out to look for them, a she heard a thudding noise behind her, when she turned around, Karin was standing there with a calm smile on her face, and a shaking Ayumu on her arms, whom she promptly set down with a grunt. “There we go… that wasn’t as bad as I thought. Can you stand, Ayumu?” Karin asked. 

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine Karin-cha—“ 

“Ayumu-san!!” Shizuku rushed over to her upperclassman, taking her hands. “Do you feel alright? Are you hurt!?” She then turned to face Karin with a frown “What took you so long? Someone could’ve seen you two, not to mention Mifune-san is—! Gh, you’re lucky I’m worried about Ayumu-san, else I wouldn’t have stayed in the cold…!” 

Karin blinked, surprised at the sudden outburst from the usually collected first year. “Shizuku-chan, just calm down first, alright? We’re both safe, and you took care of Shioriko-san yourself no? If anything I should be asking if you’re alright…” She eyed Shizuku up and down, even in the dark she could tell her clothes were dirtied. 

“Don’t worry about me, Karin-san, I can handle myself… I did what had to be done.” Shizuku sighed. 

Karin’s gaze softened. “And that’s more than enough.”

Shizuku shook her head, knowing what Karin truly meant. “No, I didn’t manage to...” Her voice dropped in volume, taking on a more defeatist tone. “...I never do, you just say that to make me feel better.” 

“Shizuku-chan… don’t worry about it alright? As long as you’re safe, and Ayumu-chan is… Oh.” 

Ayumu was staring at the both of them incredulously. “Really, what’s going on here? You two keep talking like I’m not even here! You need to tell me how you’re doing all this, and what happened with Shioriko-chan!” 

Karin took a deep breath. “Shizuku-chan. I… might’ve promised to answer all the questions she had when we got here.” 

“You what!? No, we’re not doing that! We’ll just get Rina-san after we get Ayumu-san home and have her make another vial—“

“I know, I know, but she deserves an explanation at least. She almost died! If we’d gotten there even a minute later...” 

“I know what you’re saying, but we can’t just go around and tell anyone we come across...!” Shizuku cut her off. 

“Yeah?? Well in that case maybe I shouldn’t have told _you_ either!” Karin retorted, clearly losing her patience. 

Ayumu was still standing there, shaking. She managed to bring some courage into herself, however, to speak up. “You, two! Stop!!!” 

Both of the girls in question stopped their arguing almost immediately. And turned their heads in Ayumu’s direction. 

“I... I don’t fully get what’s going on, and I can see you’re indecisive on what to do, but please don’t fight…! We’re still friends here aren’t we? I don’t want to cause trouble between you, I don’t care what’s at risk, that’s the last thing I’d want to do!” 

Shizuku spoke “...A-Ayumu-san, it’s not your fault—“ 

“Does Rina-chan know?” 

“Huh?”

“I asked if Rina-chan knows… About this!” 

The two girls hesitated for a moment. Karin sighed. “She was the first one of us three.” 

“Karin-san!!” Shizuku exclaimed in protest

Karin continued, seemingly paying no mind to the first year. “She was the first to tell us about Shioriko-san, and… about our own powers.” 

Ayumu contemplated for a moment. “Powers…” It sounded like something right out of an anime, but she’d just experienced it firsthand. “But why would Shioriko-chan try and hurt me? Us!”

The 10-girl group had recently experienced some friction with the new Student Council President after she’d attempted to close down the School Idol Club, but they’d managed to convince her to give them an opportunity to prove themselves, to show her how the school could benefit from their existence, she’d even spent what most would consider quality time with them as an honorary member, to experience school idols firsthand. Even in the case that this hadn’t worked out, and she’d changed her mind on the decision, would all that really translate into superpowered murderous intent? Ayumu couldn’t make sense of it.

Shizuku turned away from Ayumu, shaking her head. But thankfully, Karin was yet again there to fill her in. “We don’t know. We’ve trailed and even faced her a few times for the last few weeks…” 

Ayumu’s eyes widened. “W-Weeks!?” 

The older girl nodded. “Weeks. But we’ve found nothing about her true intentions, except her meeting with these soldier looking types every now and then, vanishing from school grounds... She always gets away. Shizuku-chan and I assumed the worst, and that she’d use her position to shut down the club immediately, but she hasn’t even done _that_. So up until she went after you, we’d been without clues.” 

Ayumu was even more distraught by this, this was insane by every standard. Were they all in danger? As many more questions than answers ran through her mind, her eyes drifted towards Shizuku, who was, in the dark, still staring out into the Odaiba cityscape, not making a sound.

Ayumu asked yet another question, and she swore she saw Shizuku’s figure twitch slightly. “You said Rina-chan told you about it first? How did she know?” 

Karin just shook her head. “I think it’s easier if she told you tomorr—“ 

“Okay, that’s it!” Shizuku snapped, turning around. “Karin-san, you need to stop right now. We’ve told her way too much, she was at risk before, but who knows how many more targets you just put in her back by even telling her about this! And now you want her to go even deeper by asking Rina-san!? Who knows if Ayumu-san even… no, you know what? I won’t give Rina-san the opportunity to even figure that out.” 

Ayumu’s mind got stuck on that last sentence. Figure _what_ out? This wasn’t helping.

Shizuku continued. “We’re taking Ayumu-san home, and that’s the last we speak of it, we can take turns escorting her to school and back every few days, and we pretend this never happened.” 

“ _This never happened!?_ And let Shioriko-san tie us down even more? The less we tell the others about this the more risk we run of them being caught out unawares! What if someone gets seriously hurt, or even…” Karin’s voice became uncharacteristically distressed.

“Shut up..!” Shizuku wasn’t even going to entertain that idea. 

Ayumu just stared at the two argue, she wanted to say something, they were a mess. But she barely understood the situation she’d stepped into, much less how she could begin defusing this.

Then it started. Her mind spaced out, and all sound was drowned out. Her head turned on its own, toward the city, she felt like she lost control of her body, and with stinging pain, images filled her head. 

She saw a street, and then a burst of light blinded her, like a star... Or at least what seemed like it, the smell of smoke and fire filled her nostrils.

“W-What’s going on!? Stop it..! Stop!! Run….!” Ayumu shrieked, fear overcoming her. She couldn’t stop it, it was too fast, too much. 

This promptly scared the other two girls, removing them from their bickering as they tensed up and looked around for the source of Ayumu’s distress. The dark silence of the night became much more apparent as they didn’t immediately notice anything out of the ordinary. 

“Ayumu-san!? What’s wrong!?” Shizuku asked, still on edge. The redhead was staring at something in the distance, but a quick look towards the same point yielded only the usual night lights of the city. 

“J-Jeez..! Ayumu-chan that’s not funny!” Karin replied, still surprised but clearly annoyed at the misleading prank. 

Ayumu didn’t say anything, still staring towards the same spot in the distance, she could see it, everything was burning, it was all broken, and people crying…

...And in a second it was all gone. She snapped from her trance as the quiet of the night filled her ears again, the cold breeze brushed against her skin. When her vision refocused she could see Karin and Shizuku standing in front of her, perplexed. She felt like saying something, but before she could utter the words, her legs gave out. She dropped to the ground as a splitting headache hit her. Fortunately, Karin was fast enough to catch her. 

“H-Hey! Ayumu-chan, stay with me…! Shizuku-chan, call an ambulance!” 

“Here…? At this hour?? No way! That’d be—“ 

“Just do it! We don’t know what Shioriko-san could’ve done to her!” 

“Listen to yourself! We’re essentially breaking into school at night, after a street brawl with Mifune-san that left even more evidence, and a random girl that happens to be unconscious? We’d be done for!” 

Karin gritted her teeth, Shizuku was right, as much as she hated to admit it. They had no cover story. 

Ayumu stirred slightly in Karin’s arms, her vision slowly recovered, gaze drifting towards the same buildings in the distance. The strong headache she was getting hit with meant she could barely focus on the shapes of the cityscape, and while she couldn’t clearly remember the images she’d seen in her mind just seconds ago, she still felt all of it. She knew it deep down: Something was coming. 

As if right on cue for the next act of a twisted stage play, there was a bright flash of light between some of the buildings Ayumu had been looking at, an explosion rang out. Fast and violent. 

“Ahh..!” Everyone covered their ears with a screech, it’d been extremely loud despite the distance, which only testified to its power. 

“What the...!?” Shizuku exclaimed. 

Despite the explosion not covering much more area than the street it originated from, many pieces of bright, burning debris shot out in all directions, scattering across the suburbs and causing several smaller explosions around its immediate vicinity. 

A fragment, however, flew farther away from the original zone of detonation, in a straight line, and it soon became apparent to Ayumu that it was heading straight towards the school rooftop. It was much larger and faster than the rest, like an angered shooting star, intent on vaporizing the school building, as well as the three girls atop it. 

Shizuku noticed this as well, and turned to her teammate. As much as she wanted to go down there and help the civilians, the immense fireball was the bigger concern. “Karin-san! It’s probably the size of one of Mifune-san’s boulders!” 

“Right!” Understanding what Shizuku meant, Karin summoned the same two bright lassoes Ayumu had seen her use before on her hands, readying them to her sides in what looked like a fighting stance. “Get Ayumu-chan out of here!” 

To this, Shizuku tapped Karin’s shoulder with her hand, in mere moments her body morphed into that of Karin’s. She hurried to pick up the downed Ayumu.

Ayumu groaned in her dazed state, her brain was struggling to catch up. “Shizuku-chan? How did you do that? W-What is Karin-chan going to do!?”

Karin was still staring daggers into the impending inferno, it would hit in about fifteen seconds or so if her estimate was right. “I’m breaking this thing apart into rubble.”

Or at least, she should be able to if she timed her strike properly, but she’d rather leave out those details for Ayumu’s sake.

“But… Nijigasaki… the school…! What about you!?” Ayumu protested in a panic, but the transformed Shizuku was already carrying her away, producing a bright lasso like the ones the normal Karin had. 

Karin bit her lip at Ayumu’s shouting, she dreaded to hear her underclassman and friend in such a state. Her expression softened as she turned her head towards Ayumu. “It… It’ll be less damage overall, I’ll be fine, I promise, now go!” She had to reassure her.

But that moment of hesitation was her window.

The fireball was on top of them, and Karin had failed to react on time. 

Shizuku realized this just as fast, and before she could jump off the rooftop with Ayumu to escape, she stopped and turned to look in horror as the house-sized blazing projectile was only meters away from striking the building. Karin was nowhere near ready to deflect it. 

“KARIN-SAN..!” Shizuku produced a chilling scream. Which sent chills down Ayumu’s spine. Chills which quickly turned to a jolt of adrenaline. 

The fireball struck.

But it didn’t strike the rooftop, in fact, it appeared to stop midair, to Ayumu it looked like it impacted against an invisible wall of some sort. The roaring of the flames was louder than any of them expected, like the fragment of debris itself was exploding over and over in its superheated state, and even at their relatively far distance (sans Karin), the heat was unbearable.

Then the fiery orb moved, no, Karin realized that it was slowly _skimming_ above the building in an arc, still making contact against whatever surface had stopped it, but at that moment her savior was visible. It was a dome. A bright, pink dome-like structure had formed around the rooftop area, and the immense fireball was sliding against and above it, the immense power and heat of the phenomenon could be felt, and all three of the idols were frozen in fear and awe at the spectacle of lights above them. As the sound of hissing similar to that of a hundred steaming kettles filled the air. 

But despite all that, the fireball didn’t explode or dissipate in any way, in fact, the flames seemed to be getting stronger, as if attempting to break through the protective barrier forcefully. This was no ordinary burning debris. And none of the girls had any idea how long the dome would even hold. 

But for once during this chaotic night, fate had been kind, and the fireball completed it’s arc above the dome, there was another boom, and the deadly projectile bounced off of the dome at incredible speed, far away from the area and the school. The girls then witnessed how in the distance, it collided against the earth, but it was just for a brief moment, for when all of its energy was released, the ensuing explosion blinded them.

They couldn’t tell for sure, but the explosion had definitely looked larger than the entirety of Nijigasaki High School itself. The blast of air and noise that followed would have probably deafened them as well, had the dome (which was still standing strong) not completely muted the sonic waves. The only reason any of them knew the explosion’s sound had even reached that far was the sudden tremor that shook the entire structure. 

The light of the blast subsided shortly after. And each of the girls could only hear their own shaky breaths in the silence that followed. 

Shizuku de-transformed from her senpai’s image, her concentration completely lost as she let Ayumu go, she rushed over to the shell shocked Karin, tackling her into a hug as tears of relief escaped her. “K-Karin-san… Karin-san…I’m so g-glad..!” She cried, her previous fear turning into overwhelming feelings of joy for her friend’s safety. 

The third year barely processed the girl’s sobbing state, still staring toward where the fireball had been, mere meters away from ending her, she realized that even if she’d somehow managed to strike the flaming projectile in time, it wouldn’t have mattered, whatever that thing had been wasn’t natural, and had enough energy to carve a hole into a mountain. Her new abilities were incredible, sure, but she wasn’t stopping _that._

Ayumu looked up from her spot on the ground, and witnessed how the pink dome slowly disappeared. As fast and mysteriously as it’d arrived. Had it not been for its appearance, they would have all perished, along with the school. At this point she wasn’t entirely sure whether to be grateful or scared of more similarly terrifying events occurring. More importantly, the jolt she felt right before the dome’s appearance didn’t sit right with her.

The girl then heard dripping near her chest, and as she looked down she saw that the top of her white shirt was slightly reddened, and a small puddle of liquid had formed on the ground beneath her, a quick touch confirmed that her nose was indeed dripping with worrying amounts of blood. 

She looked towards the other two in a sudden motion to call out to them, but the sound of Shizuku’s cries quickly reinforced how distraught both were by the experience already. A voice deep inside her mind told her that bothering them any more for tonight would not be a good idea. So she wiped the remaining blood off of her face as best she could, and stood up.

Her headache was gone now, at least. And she could now see the massive plume of smoke the recent explosion had produced. Despite all that, she managed to block out those thoughts and images, and approached her friends.

“Karin-chan…” She knelt down beside Shizuku and Karin, before fully committing to an embrace. In this precious moment of calm, she could at least bask in the feeling that they were all okay. They were okay and it was over. 

* * *

It’d been around seven minutes after the incident that the group had arrived at the site where the fireball struck. Ayumu had argued against it, saying it would be a better idea to go to where the initial explosion occurred, back in the city. However, both Karin and Shizuku knew that it hadn’t been normal debris that had flown towards them, hell, it’d even caused a much more powerful explosion than the one in the suburbs, (Which was probably being dealt with by firefighters and police already anyway). They needed to investigate their end quickly before this site too was crawling with officers and investigators, they had a feeling that whatever occurred here was connected to the day’s events with Shioriko.

Once Karin’s lassoes couldn’t take them any further due to them running out of city infrastructure to swing off of, they opted to walk the rest of the way. The massive plume of smoke from the site being their guide to the explosion’s epicenter.

They arrived at a forested park, or at least, that’s what the sign outside said, the place itself was burning all over, most trees had been knocked down and a large crater was clearly visible in the center of it all, smoke covering the girls’ view of it. 

“Step back, you two.” Karin said, recreating the lassoes, before spinning them in front of her like a fan, the smoke was soon blown away with a strong enough wind produced by the weapons and the depth of the hole on the earth was clear.

“W-Wow… this place looks like a meteor just hit...” Ayumu pointed out nervously.

“It might as well have been...” Shizuku added. “Wait, what’s that?” She pointed to the center of the crater, a small fire was still burning down there, as opposed to the blackened dirt surrounding the rest of the massive hole. “Whatever burning down there is probably what caused it, that is, if it’s not already been reduced to ash...” 

“But worth checking out, no?” Karin walked over the edge of the crater, and carefully made her way down to the center, approaching the burning mound…

What she saw surprised her more than any of the night’s previous events. 

“No… N-No there’s no way…” She muttered to herself, she felt her muscles freeze. 

Shizuku overheard a bit of her muttering back at the top of the crater, and called out. “Karin-san? What is it? Is it just concrete…?” 

There was no response. 

“Karin-chan!” Ayumu chimed in as well. The two girls looked at each other worriedly, and after a quick nod of agreement, they made their way down the steep incline. As they got closer, they spotted Karin’s kneeling figure in the darkness. She was intently looking at something in front of her, thankfully whatever it was, the flames that had been covering it previously appeared to be subsiding. 

Ayumu moved over to where Karin was and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?” She then looked at the object in front of the third year. She fell silent. 

Shizuku walked in front of them both, and saw it as well. 

Well, it wasn’t exactly an “it.” 

The girl the three knew as Setsuna Yuki laid there in the dirt, clothes half charred, her body covered in soot and ash, the last of the flames that had engulfed her dying out over her skin. 

* * *

END OF CHAPTER 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the support thus far, I’m enjoying writing for this quite a bit, and I hope you’re all enjoying it as well. Chapter 3 should come out much faster than this one did, since it was originally part of this chapter, but I decided to make it its own due to me not wanting to stretch this one out too much! 
> 
> That’s all from me for now, buh bye

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic with these girls, and the first story I post online in general. I have lot planned so I hope you enjoy! I'll try my best to entertain and hopefully wow. ^^   
> Any criticism is always appreciated


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